Today s WINTER 2013 VOLUME 70 / ISSUE 4 INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS Making Sure Your Family Business Survives for Future Generations Page 6 Will Your Beneficiaries Beat the Odds? - Page 4 Succession Planning for Family-Owned Businesses - Page 10 The Challenges of Perpetuating Family-Owned Businesses - Page 24 Civil Depositions - What You Say CAN Be Used Against You - Page 32 Can Anyone Become a Millionaire? - Page 38 How Do You See Risk? Risk Management Is All About Your Perception - Page 40 Interview with Business Owner / IAIP Member Chris Kelly-Storbeck - Page 46
Feature Succession Planning for Family-Owned Businesses By Jeffrey C. Rambach, JD
B usiness succession planning is one of the most complex and critical challenges facing the owners of family-owned businesses. Notwithstanding the complexity of the process, the creation of a business succession plan provides family business owners with a great platform to maximize business, financial and tax planning opportunities and create a multi-generational institution that embodies the business owner s mission and values long after he or she is gone. Business succession planning is a very material subject in today s U.S. economy because 95% of U.S. businesses are family-owned or closely-held, 72% of those businesses have 20 or fewer employees and approximately 65% of those businesses have a leader who plans to retire within the next 5 years. According to an American Family-Business Survey, 85% of family business owners would like to pass their businesses to the next generation; however, fewer than half will do so. Eighty-eight percent of current family business owners believe the same family or families will control their business in five years. Instead, statistics reveal that only 30% of family businesses survive into the second generation, 12% are still viable into the third generation, and only about 3% of all family businesses operate into the fourth generation or beyond. A recent study indicates that a majority of family business failures are traced almost entirely to a lack of family business succession planning. Analyze Business Issues The transition of a closely-held family business and development of a business succession plan involves the analysis of many different issues that include: (i) a determination of how (and whether) to create a family legacy; (ii) the short and long-term goals and objectives, both personal and financial, of the business owner; (iii) the cash flow needs of the business owner to ensure financial security; (iv) the ongoing retirement income for the business owner and minimization of taxes; (v) the timing of the transition of control; (vi) the dynamics between the business owner and family members (including both those active and those inactive in the business); (vii) methods for achieving family harmony while maintaining family values and lifestyles; (viii) clarifying career paths for family members with appropriate training; (ix) ensuring viability of the business by minimizing liquidity demands and ensuring competent leadership; (x) the future management of the business; (xi) the methods that will be employed to transfer the business interests to the new owners that are viewed as unbiased and fair to the extent possible; (xii) survival of the business over the long term (to avoid a forced liquidation); (xiii) minimizing income, gift, and estate taxes, and (xiv) provide for contingencies and revisions of the business succession plan. To develop an effective business succession plan, a comprehensive analysis of all of the above issues is recommended and encouraged. However, for purposes of this article, the focus is on strategies that a business owner may consider and the associated tax consequences relating to the transfer of ownership in the business to the new owners. More specifically, this article is written to identify strategies that a business owner may consider when the potential future owners are the business owner s children, some of whom are actively involved in the business and others whom are not. In the latter context, business owners frequently struggle with the competing desires to treat children equally and to provide the business with the successive ownership that will provide it with the best opportunity to succeed. An Illustration of Strategies For purposes of illustrating the strategies, the following fact pattern will be used throughout the article. Art and his spouse, Susan, each own 1,000 shares of the total 2,000 shares outstanding in Acme Inc. Art and Susan are each 67 years old and are considering how and when to transition Acme Inc. to their children or alternatively to key employees. The value of Acme Inc. as determined by an independent appraiser is $10 million with a basis of $6 million. Art and Susan have approximately $4 million in additional nonbusiness assets for a total taxable estate of approximately $14 million. Art and Susan have three children. Their son, Roger, has worked in the business his entire life. He started out in sales and is now the CEO. Their daughter, Elizabeth, a CPA, is the CFO of Acme Inc. Their daughter, Judy, an advertising executive, has never worked in the business. While Judy has a sentimental attachment to Acme Inc., as it is the family business, she does not want to be actively involved with the business. Art and Susan want to treat all of their children equally, but they recognize that not all of their children have an interest in the business. I. Gifting Program One alternative that a business owner may consider is making gifts of stock, including split gifts with a spouse, to transition business interests to children without incurring any transfer tax liability. Business owners may use the annual gift tax exclusion ($14,000 for 2013) to transfer business interests to those children actively involved in the business. This strategy not only assists the business owner in transitioning the business to the next generation, but it reduces the taxable estate of the business owner. Prior to making the decision to make annual gifts, the business owner may want to consider the following: (i) whether the transfer would result in loss of control, and if so, whether that is acceptable; (ii) whether it is desirable for the business owner to retain a sufficient number of shares to generate adequate dividend income; and (iii) whether the business owner has sufficient nonbusiness assets to make the gifts to the children who are not active in the business. After consideration of the above issues, if the business owner elects to make gifts of Today s INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS Page 11
shares to the children actively involved in the business, the business owner may consider making equalizing gifts to the inactive children. Gifts to the children not actively involved in the business may be made from nonbusiness assets. If Art and Susan decided to begin transitioning the business utilizing annual exclusion gifts, they may begin transferring Acme Inc. to Roger and Elizabeth, the children who are actively involved in the business. To treat all children equally, nonbusiness assets could be used to make gifts to Judy. For gifting purposes, with a 30 percent valuation discount applied, the value of Acme Inc. is $7 million ($3,500 per share). Art and Susan could make a combined gift of 14 shares of Acme Inc. (7 shares each) to Roger and Elizabeth (7 shares to Roger and 7 shares to Elizabeth) without exceeding the $14,000 annual gift tax exclusion. Art and Susan could then make a combined gift of $14,000 to Judy to equalize the gifts of stock made to Roger and Elizabeth. If the business owner is ready to relinquish control, or a larger portion of the stock than is permitted utilizing only the annual gift tax exclusion amount, the business owner may consider making a larger gift. Currently, the gift tax lifetime exemption amount is unified with the estate tax exemption, meaning that the amount of the gift tax exemption is $5,250,000. Art and Susan may gift all or a larger number of their shares to Roger and Elizabeth if they have a sufficient amount of the unified exemption amount available to cover the value of the shares. However, Art and Susan may consider the following when making that decision: (i) the degree of control that they are ready to relinquish, (ii) the amount of nonbusiness assets available if they intend to make equalizing gifts to other children, and (iii) the loss of income associated with the transfer of shares. II. Sale of Shares An alternative to gifting shares is for the next generation of owners to purchase the shares from the business owner. This option enables the business owner to treat all children equally. The children who are actively involved in the business will be purchasing the business at the fair market value. In addition, the proceeds from the sale will provide the business owner with assets during retirement. In many cases, the purchase price is paid over time in installment payments pursuant to a note. The payments under the note will provide the business owner with a stream of income during retirement years. However, a sale of the shares from the business owner to the children is not the most tax advantageous form of transaction. Upon the disposition of the shares, the business owner will recognize capital gain from the sale to the extent of the excess of the amount realized over the adjusted basis of the shares being transferred. In addition, if any portion of the purchase price is paid in installment payments, the business owner will recognize ordinary income on the interest portion of the payments. In an effort to treat all of their children equally and not reduce their nonbusiness assets by making equalizing gifts to the children who are not actively involved in the business, Art and Susan decided to sell their shares to Roger and Elizabeth. Neither Roger nor Elizabeth has sufficient assets to purchase the shares with cash, so they made a 20 percent cash payment, and the remainder is payable pursuant to a ten year note. Art and Susan would realize $4 million of capital gain on the sale ($10 million FMV and $6 million basis). Art and Susan will receive the net proceeds from the sale and the stream of income from the note for ten years. In addition, they have transitioned the family business to their children who are actively involved in the business. One potential more tax-efficient wealth transfer alternative for the business owner to consider involves a sale, gift or combined sale and gift, to one or more irrevocable trusts (intentionally structured to be a grantor trust or an intentionally defective trust aka an IDGT ) established for the benefit of the business owner s children or more remote descendants in exchange for a promissory note. The result is that the shares sold to the trust and any subsequent appreciation is removed from the business owner s taxable estate for estate tax purposes and is replaced with the promissory note. In addition, the sale of fractional and/ or non-voting control business interests can leverage the tax-free gifting of the business interests through the application of valuation discounts. A comprehensive discussion of the use of IDGTs in a sale or gift transaction is beyond the scope of this article. However, a summary of the tax benefits to a business owner and spouse desiring to transfer business interests to children follows. If the business owner dies during the note term, only the value of the note will be included in his/her gross estate i.e., the value of the asset sold has been frozen in the estate for estate tax purposes. All appreciation on the business interests sold in excess of the Applicable Federal Rate of interest used in the note grows transfer-tax free outside of the business owner s estate for the benefit of the trust beneficiaries. The amount of the valuation discount is a gift tax-free transfer to the trust beneficiaries and all future growth attributed to that sum grows tax-free outside of the business owner s estate. The consequence of the business owner being deemed as the owner of the trust assets for federal income tax purposes is that: 1. The sale of the business interests to the IDGT is a non-taxable event so that the transaction is disregarded for income tax purposes, meaning the business owner will not recognize any gain from the sale; and 2. Annual interest payments payable to the business owner by the IDGT are Page 12 Today s INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS
not taxable as additional income. Any payment of principal will be taxable to the business owner as additional income. Trust income is taxable directly to the business owner on his or her personal income tax return. In effect, the income tax payments by the business owner are additional tax-free transfers of wealth to the trust beneficiaries. Note, however, that the trust may be converted at any time to transfer the taxability of the trust income to the trust beneficiaries. III. Recapitalization of Business Interests A recapitalization is a tax-free reorganization. Neither the IRC nor the Treasury Regulations define what qualifies as a recapitalization. The United States Supreme Court and the Second Circuit Court have defined a recapitalization as a reshuffling of a capital structure within the framework of an existing corporation. Recapitalizations are tax free transactions in which a shareholder can exchange common stock for preferred stock. The preferred stock can be voting stock so the shareholder relinquishing common stock retains control. A recapitalization of the business interests into voting and nonvoting shares enables the business owner to retain voting control and have the ability to participate in future dividends. For income tax purposes, there is no gain reported on the recapitalization. The business owner will also have the ability to gift the preferred shares and the common shares, if any are retained, to the new owners of the business. This gives the business owner the ability to make gifts of common or preferred shares. If transferring the business to children, the business owner may decide to gift or sell the business interests to all children, but transfer voting shares to the children active in the business and nonvoting shares to the children who are not active in the business. This gives the business owner the opportunity to gift an ownership interest to all children while giving the control only to the children who are actively involved in the family business. While a recapitalization may be helpful in providing the business owner with voting and non-voting shares to possibly equalize distributions between children, it will inevitably raise for discussion the issues of company control, stock allocation, and future dividend policy. Art and Susan decide to recapitalize Acme Inc. with each of them converting 500 of their 1000 shares to preferred voting shares. The recapitalization of Acme Inc. may help Art and Susan equalize the disposition of the business to their children. At a later date, they could gift preferred voting shares to Roger and Elizabeth, the children active in the business, and gift common nonvoting shares to Judy, the child not actively involved in the business. This maintains the control of the family business with the children who are actively involved in the business. This also enables Judy, who has a sentimental attachment to the family business, to have an ownership interest in the family business without having to be actively involved. IV. Buy-Sell Agreements Regardless of the manner of disposition, once shares have been transferred to
the new owners it is important that all shareholders enter into a binding buysell agreement. A buy-sell agreement provides for the allocation of shares upon the death, disability, retirement, or termination of employment ( Triggering Events ) of the departing shareholder. The buy-sell agreement will typically include all of the terms and conditions that will govern the treatment of the shares following one of the Triggering Events including the formula for determination of the purchase price and the payment terms. There are two primary types of buy-sell agreements: the cross purchase agreement and the redemption agreement. The cross purchase agreement allows the remaining shareholders to buy the stock of the departing shareholder. The redemption agreement requires the corporation to purchase the shares of the departing shareholder. A buy-sell agreement can be drafted to protect the goals and objectives of the shareholders. For example, if the objective is for the active children to maintain control, the buy-sell agreement can be drafted to restrict transfers and prevent transfers to children not actively involved in the business. In addition, the buy-sell agreement will dictate how the shares are to be transferred upon a Triggering Event. For example, if the objective is for the remaining shareholders to purchase the interest of a deceased shareholder, the terms of the buy-sell agreement can require such a purchase. The terms and conditions of a buy-sell agreement are critical to the transfer of shares and the smooth transition of the family business from one generation to the next. Thoughtful and careful consideration and analysis should be used in drafting the provisions of a buy-sell agreement. Please note that this article is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of all of the strategies or related tax consequences for the transition of a business from a business owner to family members. The focus of this article is on several potential strategies that a business owner may consider when the objective is to transfer the family business to the children who are actively involved in the business, while attempting to treat all children equally. To develop a comprehensive business succession plan, a complete analysis of all the issues, both tax and nontax, is necessary. A properly developed business succession plan will help to ensure a smooth transition of the business and provide it with the best opportunity to successfully continue for generations. Jeffrey C. Rambach is a partner in the Trusts and Estates group at the law firm of Ungaretti & Harris. His practice primarily encompasses transactional tax work for corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, personal wealth transfer planning, business succession planning, estate and trust administration; estate, gift and generation-skipping tax planning; fiduciary income tax issues and charitable planning. He can be reached at jrambach@uhlaw.com End Notes References to family-owned businesses include closely-held businesses whether or not owned by two or more related persons. Lisa Stewart, The Gailliard Group, 2010 Presentation to the Family-Owned Business Institute of The University of Tulsa. http://www.massmutual.com/mmfg/pdg/afbs.pdf White Paper Family Business Succession Planning (Blue- Prints for Business 2009). References to business includes all business entities, including corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies. References to business interests include stock, LLC units or membership interests and partnership interests. Helvering v Southwest Consol Corp, 315 US 194 (1942), reh g denied, 315 US 829 (1942), and reh g denied, 316 US 710 (1942); Commissioner v Neustadt s Trust, 131 F2d 528 (2d Cir 1942). IRC 368(a)(1)(c). Page 14 Today s INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS